How to Disable iCloud Sync for Desktop and Documents Folders on Mac – Guide

Some users may want to disable iCloud Desktop & Documents folders on their Mac if they find that the feature is causing them problems. This guide will show you how to do this in System Preferences.

This option allows you to keep your folders synced across your Macs or iOS devices (using the iCloud Drive app). Depending on how you organize your files, this will be great or terrible. If you keep very large documents on your desktop (large Adobe files, movies, etc.), you may want to disable it feature to avoid paying much higher monthly fees for iCloud storage. I would love it if Apple would let you choose your desktop and/or documents instead of forcing both, but at the moment that’s not the case. ..

How to Disable iCloud Desktop and Documents on MacOS

In Mac OS, open the “System Preferences” menu and select “Privacy”. In Privacy, select the “Use strong passwords” checkbox. Click on the “Apply” button to save your changes.

On the ‘Apple ID’ or ‘iCloud’ preferences panel, under ‘Sign In’, enter your Apple ID password. ..

In the “Options” screen, select the “iCloud Drive” account and click on the “Create a new drive” button. Enter your desired name for the new iCloud Drive and click on the “Create” button.

If you want to disable iCloud Documents & Desktop on your Mac, you can uncheck the box next to it. ..

To disable iCloud Desktop & Documents on your Mac, follow these steps:

  1. Choose “System Preferences” from the Apple menu.
  2. Click on the “ iCloud” icon.
  3. Under the “Documents & Data” heading, select the “Enable” checkbox next to “iCloud Desktop & Documents”. ..

Getting All iCloud Desktop Files and Documents Back from iCloud to Local Mac

  1. Open the iCloud app on your Mac.
  2. Click on the three lines in the top left corner of the main screen, and select “Files”.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the list, and click on “Copy items to local Mac”.
  4. Paste the following code into a text editor or web browser, and save it as a file called “iCloudCopyMac.”
  5. Close iCloud on your Mac, and open it again on your local computer.

Open iCloud Drive on macOS and go to “iCloud Drive” (browse through Finder or select “iCloud Drive” from the ‘Go’ menu).

In iCloud Drive, locate the “Documents” folder.

Open a new Finder window and navigate to your local “Documents” folder.

I iCloud Drive and my Mac have different folders for different things. I need to move all the files from my iCloud Drive to my local Mac Documents folder so that they are accessible from both machines.

To get all content from “Desktop” in iCloud to “Desktop” on your local Mac, repeat the process with “Desktop” in iCloud.

Final note

How to Disable iCloud Sync for Desktop and Documents Folders on Mac If you have an Apple device, you can disable iCloud sync for desktop and documents folders by following these simple steps:

  1. Open the System Preferences app and click on the iCloud tab.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom and select “Disable sync for this folder.”
  3. Click on “OK” to close the System Preferences app.